Is PS4 Pro UHD BD Playback Just a Firmware Issue?

Since Sony announced that the new PlayStation 4 Pro will not ship with the capability to play Ultra HD HDR Blu-Ray discs, it has left many people scratching their heads trying to figure out why Sony would make such a strong push into the 4K HDR gaming area while gimping the system to only be able to play 4K HDR streams delivered online. However, all the evidence we've found seems to suggest that it is nothing more than a firmware issue that can be patched later if Sony chose to.

Just like Sony was able to patch HDR support into the original PS4's firmware, Sony likely could just as easily add UHD Blu-Ray support into PS4 Pro's firmware at a later date. PS4 launched as a gaming-centered system, lacking many Blu-Ray capabilities that PS3 already had, as well as other media features like MP3 playback and DLNA. Today it has all of those things. So, can Sony update PS4 Pro to enable UHD Blu-Ray, or does it require a specific drive? According to a patent Sony filed on an error correction technology for UHD Blu-Rays, the answer seems to be that all Blu-Ray drives are technically capable of reading UHD discs, but because it cannot be guaranteed that the older players will have the technology needed to decode Ultra HD HDR video, it could lead to inconsistent experiences for users attempting to play new media on old systems. The probability for errors would be far higher, if the device was able to decode the stream at all. All version 2 Blu-Ray players have to have enough processing power to decode UHD HDR video, so they know users will have a consistent experience when playing the discs on those players.

So, Sony's solution was to create a new error correction tech that inverts certain chunks of data, which throws off the older players, preventing them from trying to play the new discs at all. Their error correction system fails because it doesn't know some of the data has been flipped around. Here's some of the language in the patent.

Basically, because the Blu-ray Disc format is the same, recording and playing back a Ver. 2.0 disc on a Ver. 1.0 drive would not be absolutely impossible. However, if the Ver. 2.0 disc is achieved by using higher density and more layers, it can be assumed that the various types of specifications with which the Ver. 1.0 drive is provided would not the adequate.

Therefore, in a case where recording and playback of a Ver. 2.0 disc are done on a Ver. 1.0 drive, there is concern that recording errors and playback errors would occur with greater frequency.

The present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned issue and makes recording and playback impossible of a Ver. 2.0 disc is loaded into a Ver. 1.0 drive. In other words, rather than being able to record and play back in an unacceptable way, the present invention renders the Ver. 2.0 disc incompatible with the Ver. 1.0 drive. Conversely, this increases the usability of the Blu-ray Disc system for the user.

According to the present invention as described above, the error correction encoded address information is recorded on the second version recording medium after being transformed such that the address decoding cannot be performed by a playback device that is not compatible with the second version of the recording medium. Therefore, the address decoding for the second version recording medium cannot be performed by the incompatible playback device (for example, a playback device that was manufactured to be compatible only with the first version of the recording medium).

In other words, the same error correction encoding processing is used for both the first version and the second version, but because the error correction encoded address information is transformed by the inverting of specific bits or the like, a state is created in which address errors cannot be corrected, so the address decoding becomes impossible. Because the address decoding cannot be done, even if the second version recording medium is loaded into the incompatible playback device, it can be put into a state in which it cannot be accessed (recording and playback are impossible).

Since the data is just being rearranged, all it should take is a firmware update to tell PS4 Pro how to properly error correct the new discs, and that should enable playback. So, hope is not lost for being able to play back UHD 4K video in beautiful high bit rate HDR. Since most online video services give you less than 20mbps, and UHD Blu-Ray gives up to 128mbps, videophiles were definitely disappointed to learn it would not be in the system at launch. Adding 4x the resolution of 1080p and 4096x the number of colors to a video file requires a lot more data to make it look good, and current streaming tech just isn't there yet to be able to compete with what UHD BD can provide.

Sony remains tight lipped about whether or not UHD BD support can be added later, but we can hope that what this patent hints at means that it can be. In addition, the latest Blu-Ray specification update details what it is that makes the discs incompatible with older BD players, and what they say lines up with the patent.

We've done a lot of digging and can't come up with any hardware based reason why PS4 Pro should not be able to play three layer Blu-Ray discs. What are your thoughts? Have you found some info that could disprove this idea? We'd love to hear from you. Post it in our comments section below!